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• root-and-branch
  root-and-branch

  adjective

  on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale
• root and branch
  root and branch

  Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

root-and-branch

British  

adjective

1. on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale

   root-and-branch reforms

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adverb

1. entirely; completely; utterly

   Brazil needs reform root and branch

root and branch Idioms  

1. Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

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Example Sentences

So what happens if there's a root and branch review, with every spending line scrutinised, new priorities set and given more funds and others squeezed or cut?

From BBC • Jun. 10, 2025

Not at his attempts to wreak personal vengeance, reconstitute Washington root and branch, or engineer a lasting partisan realignment.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2024

The president says he wants to implement root and branch reform in the coming years.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2024

She called for "urgent root and branch reform" to prevent further deaths.

From BBC • Jan. 1, 2024

Where it touched the ground it melted, but all about him rock and root and branch wore a thin blanket of white.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin